Sick and Ron
by thoth-anubis
Summary: Kim & Ron go after Dr. Drakken and Shego again shortly after the events of Sick Day. Still kind of a oneshot, even with Part 2 now up.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer:** I own none of the characters and situations from Disney's Kim Possible, and this story is derived from characters and situations from that work - largely from the episode "Sick Day" - and I intend no profit by this.

**Pairing:** None.

**Summary:** Kim & Ron go after Dr. Drakken and Shego again shortly after the events of "Sick Day." One shot which might eventually be continued.

As always, R&R!

xxxXXXxxx

**Sick and Ron**

xxxXXXxxx

"Hey, Kim. Feeling better?" Wade asked from the Kimmunicator's screen.

Kim coughed, belatedly covering her mouth. "Some," she affirmed.

"You sound better, but your nose still looks a little red."

At the prompt, Kim blew her noise noisily, bobbling the Kimmunicator as she did. "It figures," she mumbled into her tissue. "I am feeling better, though," she confessed.

"Good enough to go after Drakken and Shego?" Wade asked, pausing to sip from a disposable Bueno Nacho cup. "He just bought a bunch of cold medicine with his credit card, so I was able to trace him back to his new lair."

"Let me check with Ron; I feel well enough, but even though Drakken and Shego are sick, too, I don't want to go it alone."

"Let me know; I'll work on setting up a ride and let Dr. Director know that GJ might need to intervene."

"Will do," Kim nodded as Wade broke the connection.

Kim set the inactive Kimmunicator aside, then walked over to her bed. "Ron?" she asked quietly, sitting on the edge of her mattress.

Ron mumbled something incoherent and attempted to roll over, away from the disturbance to his sleep, but was brought up short when the blanket Kim was sitting on refused to move.

_"Maybe I should let GJ handle Drakken this time,"_ Kim thought. _"Ron still looks a little green."_ She winced as she noticed a wet spot on one of her pillows from where Ron had drooled in his sleep. _"Ewww... At least I **hope** it's from him drooling."_

Reaching out, Kim gently wiped Ron's chin with her tissue. Despite the softness of her touch, Ron awoke.

"KP?" Ron asked, blinking in the afternoon light.

"Yep. How're you feeling?" she asked in return. His eyes were bloodshot, and appeared ringed in red from irritation. _"Poor thing,"_ she commiserated silently.

Ron visibly thought about the question for a moment before answering. "Better. Still a little clogged up, though." Ron tried to inhale through his nose, but almost immediately had to open his mouth and gasp for air when the blockage failed to yield.

"Wade's found Drakken," Kim told him.

Ron quickly sat up, throwing aside the pink bedspread to reveal the dark blue pajamas he wore. "Let's go."

"You sure?" Kim asked worriedly. "We can take a pass and let GJ deal - Drakken and Shego are both still sick, so GJ shouldn't have any problems."

"They've always been sick," Ron grinned, his ruddy nose crinkling.

"Ha, ha," Kim mock-laughed, before donning a serious expression. "Seriously, Ron. You look a little green. Tell me honestly, do you feel up to it?"

"Absolutely," Ron nodded.

Kim gauged both his mood and his health. _"He still looks sick, but he does look better than he did when we went after the tweebs and Ray-X,"_ she thought. After a moment's contemplation, she slowly nodded. "Okay, then. Let's get ready."

Ron started to unbutton his pajama top, then paused and glanced over at Kim. "Uh, KP? Do you mind?"

Kim grinned as she collected a fresh set of mission clothes and the Kimmunicator. "Why don't I just go behind the screen and call Wade?" she suggested, grinning at Ron's modesty.

xxxXXXxxx

The flight to Drakken's lair passed without incident; Ron dozed in his seat, not really sleeping but not fully awake either, while Kim amiably chatted with the pilot. It was peaceful and calm in the upper atmosphere, and in almost no time at all, they were nearing Drakken's lair.

As they neared the drop zone, Kim gently shook Ron to wakefulness. "You ready to go, Ron?"

Ron blinked as he straightened in his chair. "You know it, KP," he sleepily agreed.

_"He does sound better,"_ Kim noted with relief. _"He still looks a little green though; but at least he's not as green as he was at the carnival just before that unfortunate incident with Mr. Baggypants."_

Together, they kitted up, checking each other's parachutes and prepping for the jump. With a final salute towards the pilot, Team Possible jumped from the plane.

They weren't in freefall long before Ron activated his 'chute, and Kim was compelled to do the same. Glancing towards her friend, Kim was momentarily worried when she saw Ron working his jaw as his face twisted in some truly bizarre contortions. "Ron? You okay?" she called to him.

"Yeah," Ron called back. "My ears are hurting. Sorry. I know you enjoy freefall, but..."

"No big," Kim waved off his apology. "It's the congestion, and the changes in pressure. Just be sure to aim for the lair - and if you feel like you're going to be sick, aim for Drakken."

"Hard to miss," Ron agreed, "the lair, too."

Kim chuckled despite the weak attempt at humor, glad that Ron's spirits were high despite his less than robust health.

As they drifted down, the duo had ample opportunity to study the top of the lair. The structure was large, constructed of matte grey stone, square in shape, and had the air of solidity of an old bank - the kind built in the era when sticks of dynamite were the worst threat the lucre within would confront, and were now largely considered anachronisms - too small to be useful, and built far too sturdily to either expand or remodel economically.

Despite the difficulties involved, Drakken had clearly adapted the structure to suit his own nefarious purposes. An enormous circular opening had been added to the roof, giving a glimpse of a large machine inside the building, and incidentally providing a perfect target for the parachutists to aim for.

Kim and Ron regrouped on the roof of the lair, shedding their parachutes before peeking through the opening. The chamber within appeared to encompass the bulk of the volume of the building, and the majority of the room's space in turn was filled by the machine they'd glimpsed inside during their descent. From their vantage above it, most of the details of the machine's construction were unclear, but at the center, aimed through the opening in the roof, was a huge parabolic dish. At the cardinal points, delicate spires rose from the central mass of the machine - forming a vaguely crown-like formation around the dish.

After a glance at each other, they simply shrugged, not recognizing either the machine or its purpose. They returned to their observations, trying to see beyond the machine's expanse to the rest of the interior, but found the view simply too obstructed by the machine to be of any help.

Shrugging again in dismissal, Kim drew her grappling gun and seated one hook of the grapnel solidly in the stone of the roof. "Be ready for anything," Kim quietly instructed.

"You got it," Ron replied

Kim winced, since Ron's response was far louder than she would have preferred. _"Probably the congestion,"_ she thought. _"He can't hear well - not even himself."_

Once Ron had a good grip on her harness, Kim dropped through the opening. Together they shot down between a pair of the machine's spires, narrowly missing the dish, their descent accompanied by a high pitched whir as the grappling gun's spool played out.

Upon reaching the floor, Kim quickly ejected the spool of cable from her grappling gun, leaving the cord dangling from the opening far above, and glanced about. Neither Drakken nor Shego - nor any of his red-suited henchmen - were visible, but Drakken's voice - sounding congested, but comprehensible - could be heard echoing through the chamber.

"Hah! Even while sick, I've still got it. My Proto-Voltaic Muon Infuser will ensure the world bows to me!"

Shego's voice quickly retorted, "Don't sell yourself short, Dr. D. You've always been sick."

Kim choked back a snort of laughter. "She's got your sense of humor, Ron. Anyway, I'll go find Shego, you take care of this... this... the... Muon thingy."

Ron glanced up at the colossal machine, momentarily concerned by the sheer size and complexity of it, until he remembered that it had been built by Dr. Drakken - so a convenient self-destruct mechanism or glaring flaw simply _had_ to exist; it was just a matter of finding the weak point. "Sure thing, KP," he breathed quietly.

Kim walked around the curve of the machine and found Drakken and Shego. Shego was sitting in a reclining lounger, covered by a green quilt, reading a magazine, only vaguely listening to Drakken's ranting. Drakken, on the other hand, was wearing a heavy bathrobe over his usual blue scientist garb, and the purple tinge to his cheeks and his nose showed that - for once - there was a rational explanation for the febrile gleam in his eyes.

Shego looked up from her magazine and blinked at the sight of Kim Possible leaning against Drakken's fancy new gizmo, casually listening to the mad scientist ramble on and on about his latest plot. "Feeling better, Kimmie?" she asked.

"Much, thanks," Kim grinned.

Drakken blanched, tinting his face in a number of interesting shades of blue and purple. "Kim Possible? But how? No, never mind - that doesn't matter. Get her!" he ranted, pointing one quivering finger at his teenaged nemesis.

Shego sniffled. "One sec," she commented, then blew her nose noisily.

Kim quickly took the opportunity to do the same. "Ready for a Global Justice prison?" she asked through the muffling insulation of tissue.

"You wish," Shego snorted, tossing her soiled tissue to the floor beside her chair. Rising to her feet, she let the quilt slide down her legs before stepping free of the puddled mound of cloth around her feet.

She ignited her hands, sending plumes of green plasma wafting into the air. "Let's go." She leaped to the attack, even as Drakken broke into a coughing fit that doubled him over.

xxxXXXxxx

Ron was beginning to despair of finding the weakness in Drakken's machine when he quite literally stumbled over it. Looking up from his ungainly sprawl on the dusty granite floor, he grinned at the mammoth power cable leading from the machine in the center of the chamber to the outer wall. "Score," he breathed, struggling to untangle his feet from the thick power cord.

Rising to his feet, Ron grasped the cable with both hands and yanked as firmly as he could. _"Hmm,"_ Ron thought as he tried again, only to fail to sever the connection. _"Okay, this might be more difficult than I thought."_ He tried tugging the other way, hoping to dislodge the other end of the cable from the machine, but this attempt was likewise fruitless.

The sounds of Kim and Shego fighting began to reach his ears, echoing around the mass of the machine - the muted thumps of limbs striking, the crackle of plasma evanescing, the hiss of clawed gloves cutting through the air. Ron tried to ignore the conflict's noises, but a particularly loud crash caught his attention - especially when what sounded like a grunt of pain from Kim accompanied it.

Ron squeezed his eyes tightly shut as he strained to dislodge the cable. His ears popped as the congestion in his eustachian tubes shifted, so great was his focus and the strain he forced, but still he squeezed, his fingers slipping on the insulated wrapping that protected the power cable. He groaned, the cords in his neck bulging beneath his flushed skin from the effort... and Ron suddenly found himself sprawled on the floor.

Groaning, Ron slowly sat up, one end of the sparking power cable still clutched between his gloved hands. In stark contrast to the crackles of actinic blue electricity spitting from the end of the cable, a fading green glow was coming from the raw edges of the break in the cord. Carefully, Ron tossed the live wire he held far away from himself, then rose to his feet.

"I'm coming, KP," he called - as best he could. Thanks to the congestion in his head, he couldn't really tell how loud or how clearly he had spoken.

Stumbling into a run, Ron hurried around the machine - giving a wide berth to the severed cable that twisted and hissed on the stone floor like a rattlesnake rousted from its den - and was promptly knocked to the floor for a third time. Ron's gaze met Shego's from _very_ close range as he frantically fought against the desire to sneeze - which would have erupted directly into her face.

Shego's lips twisted into a snarl, and Ron quickly grabbed her wrists. Shego reignited her hands and instinctively tried to slash at him with her claws, but his grip was sufficient to keep himself safe; he had the leverage, and his hands were positioned low enough on her forearms to be beyond the range of the globular mass of plasma encasing hers.

Dismissing the sidekick as unimportant, Shego simply scowled at him rather than trying to injure him. "Let go," she ordered, her eyes glittering with barely repressed menace. "Or I promise that you'll regret it - for however long you manage to survive," she swore.

Ron chuckled nervously and slowly loosened his grip. "Sorry?" he ventured.

Shego shook her head in disgust and pushed off him, doing a backflip to return to the fight. She landed and flexed her claws, her plasma flickering into brighter, more intense life.

Despite the imminent threat Shego posed, Kim didn't seem to notice. She was distracted, staring aghast at Ron. "Ron!" she screamed.

Blinking in surprise - unused to being ignored, and confused enough about the situation to forego the huge opening Kim was leaving in her defenses - Shego turned to follow Kim's line of sight. "Stoppable?" she demanded, equally aghast, as her jaw dropped.

Ron slowly sat up, staring at his hands - and at the aura of green plasma that surrounded them. "Um..." he began, exceedingly uncertainly, only to fall silent once more as he watched the flickering contrails left by his hands' movements fade as he continued to leak glowing green plasma into the air.

Shego's expression as she stared at Kim's partner-slash-sidekick slowly shifted from surprise to confusion, then to dismay, before ending with anger. "Drakken!" she screeched.

"What?" Dr. Drakken demanded, turning away from the darkened monitor he was examining in an attempt to determine what was wrong with his muon infuser. His sudden intake of breath was accompanied by a swift widening of his eyes. He raised one shaking hand to point at the sitting sidekick, but even though his lips quivered and his jaw moved, he couldn't seem to speak a single word.

"What have I told you about cloning?" Shego shouted. "**No cloning!** No cloning, no genetic manipulation, no sequencing my genes - and most of all _no experimentation with my powers!_" she barked.

Dr. Drakken glanced back and forth between Kim and Shego, meeting their scowls with a thoroughly nonplussed expression. "Why are you looking at me like that, Shego?" he demanded, his face flushing a deeper purple as he rounded on his nemesis. "I didn't do anything. Talk to the cheerleader. _She's_ the copycat!"

"What?" Shego asked, so confused by Drakken's response that the plasma sheathing her hands winked out.

Pointing an accusatory - and unsteady - finger at Kim, Dr. Drakken insisted, "Hah! I knew you weren't all that. Copycat! Copycat!" he taunted. "You're so transparent. Just because I have a sidekick with green skin and plasma powers you had to have one, too. But I had mine first, so there!" he stuck out his tongue childishly at the teen.

Kim and Shego shared a look, a mix of disgust, dismay, and confusion as they dismissed the mad scientist from their thoughts. "But if he didn't do it..." Kim began. "...Then who did?" Shego finished. "And how?"

"Uh, KP?" Ron tentatively began, holding up one burning hand as he continued watching the tendrils of plasma as they danced in midair around his widespread fingers. "When I was in their last lair... doing Operation Ray-X? Shego kind of sneezed on me."

The two females shared another look, and then in unison took a single step away from each other. "Just in case," Shego muttered, not meeting Kim's eyes.

"Oh, yeah," Kim fervently agreed with a nod.

Shego suddenly spun and shot an intense beam of green plasma into the trash can next to the lounger she'd been recuperating in, incinerating the contents and leaving the metal mesh of the container aglow with heat.

"What was _that_ about?" Kim asked curiously, edging a little further away from the villainess.

"I don't want Dr. D to get any ideas," she shot back, then fired another stream of plasma at the tissue she'd left on the arm of her chair, obliterating both the soiled paper and the chair arm, before turning the beam on the few scattered wads of tissue lying on the floor beside it, vaporizing them and messily sanitizing the area.

"What am I supposed to do now?" Ron harshly demanded, waving his hands and waggling his fingers in a futile attempt to quench the burning plasma englobing them. "I can't be green! I'm a pink sloth!"

"Ease up, Ron. We'll figure something out," Kim tried to soothe him as she tried to adjust to his new coloration. In retrospect, she had to admit that his skin tone was identical to Shego's - as if the plasma burning around his hands left any doubt of the connection. _"And here I just thought he was nauseous."_

Shego's lips twisted into a truly _evil_ grin. "Don't worry, kid. I'll give Hego a call - I'm sure he'll be more than happy to welcome the new holder of the green Go-Team glow to the team," she snickered. "You two deserve each other."

Ron scowled, and the expression was an eerie echo of the villainous sidekick's usual. "Ok, first of all... Hego? I know he's your brother, but the man tried to kill the naco! No way am I _ever_ going to live in a town where the naco has been replaced by a _veggie wrap_." Ron's expression twisted in utter disgust at the very thought.

"And second," he pointed menacingly, and gestured emphatically to reinforce the point, sending a small spurt of plasma from the tip of his finger, forcing Drakken to leap over the sudden plume with a startled yelp, "there's no way I am **_ever_** going to answer to the name Ron-go!"

Kim shook her head in disbelief as she glanced back and forth between Shego and Ron-g... er... Ron. "Maybe it'll wear off," she suggested hopefully.

Shego and Ron snorted in shared disbelief - and after sharing a glance, Shego muttered, "I get hit by a comet to get these powers, but it only takes a sneeze for the buffoon to get them. What's wrong with this picture?"

"Um, Shego," Dr. Drakken tentatively suggested. "I've got my crypto scanner; I could examine you both, maybe find out..."

"No!" the green-skinned pair snarled in unison, then scowled at each other - their expressions, skin tone, and stance an eerie mirror reflection.

"Oh, boy," Kim mumbled.

XXXxxxXXX

**Author's Notes:** Call this one a one-shot. It was sort of an idea in search of a plot, or the set up for a story without any actual story to build to. The plots that derive from the setup seem too... ordinary or overused for my taste. Hopefully the conclusion was enough of a surprise - I teased it, but tried to not make it too obvious.

In case you're curious, the pattern of infection was : Unknown patient zero to Jim & Tim to Kim to Shego to Drakken to Duff, as well as Shego to Ron. So why didn't Drakken inherit the glow? Based on the episode, Ron had been exposed to Jim and Tim as well as Kim, without contracting the illness, so the Stoppable Fortress of Immunity was obviously up to the challenge of that strain... but not that of the less virulent, lesser (but unique) variant of the strain that briefly developed in Shego as a result of an interaction with her comet powers. If I continue this, I'll brush up on my immunology and virology in order to explain this better.

xxxXXXxxx

Coming Soon: The second in the series of unusual pairings that began with "Koo-koo-ka-choo, Ms. Whisp" ...

Some scenes from the episode:

"Feels good, feels right doesn't it?" Mr. Barkin grunted as he crashed against Ron.

"Mr. Fuzzy might get cold," Steve Barkin protested, curling up beside his shivering student.

Bonnie Rockwaller raised one aristocratic eyebrow contemplatively as she eyed the pair in front of her. "Weiner, yes. Little, no."

Ron Stoppable... slash... Steve Barkin are... "The Boys of Bonding."

Nah, just kidding. And in case you couldn't tell, all the quotes in the fake ad above are taken directly from "Bonding" - although all are almost entirely out of context.

Actually the next in the series (although it will be another one-shot set in an entirely different universe) will be called "Bonnie's Mom Has Got it Going On," and will again feature Ron in the starring role.

Watch for it coming soon... Maybe. So many stories in progress, so many story ideas, so little time.


	2. Chapter 2

**Sick & Ron Part 2**

**Notes:** I still don't have a good story line in mind to continue this - just a few possible scenes and moments of character interaction, but at least this fleshes out a bit more about the situation, resolves some of the unanswered questions, and clarifies my thoughts on the Glow. Enjoy, and review! (Please!)

xxxXXXxxx

Part 2

The air was cool, despite how low the saucer was flying, and both Kim and Ron were grateful for the blankets they held tightly wrapped around themselves. Ron, with his new skin tone gleaming in the moonlight where it peeked from beneath the covers, stared blankly into the darkness, not meeting his best friend's eyes.

All was quiet and peaceful as they flew over the slumbering landscape below. The enveloping silence was complete, broken only by sporadic intermittent, short, staccato coughing fits, the snuffling of noses, and the occasional sneeze from the three people in the flying craft.

Shego briefly glanced over her shoulder at the dimly visible lumps of the huddled teens before returning her eyes to their flight path. "You can talk if you want," she told them irritably as she activated the saucer's autopilot. It had been a long flight, and the silence was beginning to grate on her nerves.

"It's just a lot to take in," Ron mumbled. He lifted his gloved hands to briefly stare at them before letting them fall back onto the blankets.

Kim muttered something that sounded vaguely like agreement with the sentiment under her breath. She smothered a sneeze as she drew the blankets more tightly around herself.

"Could be worse, kid," Shego pointed out. "You could have turned blue and started ranting."

Ron chuckled, but it was clear his heart wasn't in it.

"Want some advice?" Shego asked.

Ron's shrug was lackluster, but he still focused his attention on her. "Sure."

Despite his focus on Shego, Ron couldn't help but notice the way Kim's gaze suddenly narrowed. Although she hadn't seemed to move a muscle, her attention was clearly riveted beneath the tented cowl of her blanket. She was watching him closely - and listening even more raptly.

The intensity of Kim's concentration made him feel oddly nervous. He shifted uneasily, moving slightly away from his friend, even though the close quarters meant that his leg still remained pressed against hers.

"First," Shego began, turning the pilot's seat to face the teens as she slouched below the level of the windshield to get out of the wind. "Keep the gloves. Unfocused, the Glow won't hurt you - probably - but you're not immune to things like secondary fires, shrapnel, and such. Gloves help. Though if you focus the Glow," she cautioned, "that can hurt - even with gloves."

"Good to know," Ron noted wryly. He glanced down at his hands before hurriedly lifting one away from the blankets when it began to leak green plasma. "Is there an off switch or something? How do I...?" he trailed off, trying to think of a way to articulate his question clearly.

Shego snickered, enjoying his obvious confusion. "Can't tell you. How does your heart beat? How do you move your arm? You just do it. You'll figure it out eventually."

"Wonderful," Ron mumbled as the glow faded from his hand. He irritably tucked his arm back beneath the blankets.

"Second," Shego continued, "change your wardrobe. I've seen what you wear. Trust me; red shirt, green skin? Not a good combination. Green and black just became your best friends." She shifted her gaze to Kim, "And save the 'you're definitely a spring,' comments. Believe me, I've heard _all_ of them before."

The fold of blanket Kim had wrapped around her head slipped slightly as she muffled a sneeze. In the gap that opened in the slackened bedclothes, Kim's lips could be seen quirking into what was almost a smile.

"I don't know if your hair will keep growing in blonde," Shego continued. "Mine was always black even before the comet hit, but I didn't have the green highlights. You'll have to wait and see. Could be green. Could be black. Could continue to be blonde. Could be a mix," Shego shrugged.

"Don't worry about it, Ron," Kim straightened her back and smiled at her friend, peering out of her nest of blankets like a turtle from its shell. "I'll help you coordinate. I saw a Giza Green T-shirt at Club Banana that would look great on you."

Ron rolled his eyes. "I can dress myself, KP."

Kim mumbled something under her breath that sounded like, "You keep telling yourself that," but it was quiet enough that he couldn't be sure. "Definitely no jumpsuits," she said, in a voice that was both louder and more definitive.

"Third," Shego interrupted, raising her voice slightly for emphasis, "and more importantly, you're going to break stuff. Guaranteed. Be ready for it."

Ron's brow furrowed in confusion. "What do you mean?"

Shego leaned back in her seat and sighed as she stretched her back. "I'm just speaking from my own experience, so it may not be the same for you, but..." she trailed off and paused briefly before continuing. "Considering the fact that when Kimmie here was channeling Hego, she never really turned them on, maybe..."

Kim blinked in surprise as Ron cocked his head curiously before interrupting Shego. "Hello... Super strength? Tunneling through solid rock, lifting heavy stuff? She definitely turned them on... and it hurricane rocked!"

Waving one hand in dismissal, Shego snorted. "Oh, they were on... in idle. Almost wish I could have seen her go full throttle - I bet she'd have swelled up like she was wearing one of Jack Hench's rings; that would have been something to see."

Seeing the disbelief in their eyes, Shego rolled hers. "She didn't have blue hair did she?" she asked pointedly.

The teens' gazes met briefly before turning back to the lounging villainess. "Well, no..." Ron admitted.

"There you go," Shego smirked with satisfaction at the dawning understanding on their faces. "Hego goes for that whole 'secret identity' thing, but I can't - not that I would - and I doubt you can either. The Glows are different from each other - obviously - but if it works like the Wego's or Kimmie's did, you should be pretty much like me."

Although Ron expected Kim to say something, she remained quiet, and thanks to the moonlight, he could see the thoughtful expression on her face. "Okay," he finally nodded, sniffling a little.

"So, where was I?" Shego asked herself, looking momentarily thoughtful. "Oh, yeah. You'll break stuff. Especially when the power's new, you're going to find it really hard to gauge your strength, especially when you're fired up. So to speak. Don't be surprised, and don't stress about it. It happens. Like I said, you'll figure it out eventually."

Ron lifted a hand and eyed it dubiously as it began to glow, leaking tendrils of green energy. "I see..." he mumbled.

"Not like that," Shego's smirk returned, even broader than before. "I mean when your emotions are running hot. Anger, fear, excitement... _Lust._ So be careful when you're with the Princess - breaking her is my job."

While Ron simply looked confused, Kim's scowl was ferocious. "Very funny."

Despite still looking confused, Ron merely asked, "That's it? Wear gloves, change my wardrobe, and don't be surprised if I break stuff? Isn't there more to it than that?"

"Nah, that's about it," Shego shrugged. "Most of it you can't really explain, you have to figure it out for yourself. And don't complain; it's a lot more help than I got when I was hit by the comet."

"Thanks," Ron told her, grateful despite the sparse nature of the advice. He wiped his nose on the back of his hand, moving his arm back and forth as he breathed in heroically.

A beep from the autopilot returned Shego's attention to the controls. "Middleton ahoy. So who wants to be dropped off first?"

"You know where we live?" Ron blinked in surprise.

Shego shook her head in irritation as she turned her chair back to the front. "No doy. You _are_ in the phonebook - not to mention Kimmie inviting my whole family over for a visit."

"Drop me off first," Kim interjected. "Then you can take Ron home."

"You sure, KP?" Ron asked. "Shouldn't I just go back to your house, too?"

"I'm sure. Just be careful," Kim told him quietly, resting her hand on his arm beneath the cover of the blanket to reinforce the point.

A muffled derisive snort was the only indication that Shego had overheard the quiet exchange. Without comment, she simply aimed the saucer towards Kim's house and pushed the throttle forward.

xxxXXXxxx

After Kim climbed out of the saucer idling in her driveway, she paused beside the craft. Reaching back into the vehicle, she spread the blankets she'd just discarded over Ron. "Be careful," she warned again, not bothering to attempt to moderate her voice this time.

"Yeah, yeah," Ron muttered. He slumped lower in the vehicle and pulled the blankets tighter around himself as he erupted in a bone-rattling sneeze.

Kim frowned, hesitating with one leg still braced on the side of the saucer. "Everything will be alright," she finally told Ron. Leaving it at that, she headed into her house, glancing over her shoulder towards her ailing friend with every other step.

"If she was so concerned, you'd think she'd want me dropped off first," Ron mumbled to himself, "or at least let me keep staying at her place."

Shego snickered as the saucer took to the air once more. "Don't feel neglected, sidekick," she informed him. "Kimmie's just in too much of a hurry to call your techno-nerd without me overhearing."

"Wade?" Ron asked curiously. "What does she need to talk to him about?"

"Not much," Shego smirked until a sudden cough wiped the expression from her face. "She probably just remembered that Aviarius had a way to steal the Go-Team glow."

Ron blinked in surprise. "Oh yeah..." His eyes suddenly widened. "I can be cured!"

"Shyeah, right," Shego snickered. "Aviarius' thing wasn't a cure - it just stole the power. It didn't reverse any of the changes the Glow's made to you - and is probably still making."

Visibly gulping, Ron asked, "Changes?" The uncertainty in his voice was plain. "And we're going the wrong way."

Shego shrugged, most of her attention still focused on the saucer's controls as she changed the direction of its flight. "I know; I already noticed. I'm just not used to seeing the town from this altitude; Dr. D and I usually fly higher."

Once the course had been corrected, Shego resumed her lecture, "The green Glow's a mixed bag when it comes to powers; some are inherent to the Glow, some are made natural as a side effect - and green skin's the least of it. I'm faster and stronger with it than I'd be without the Glow - not as strong as Hego, even in neutral, but who cares... Enhanced speed and dexterity are a lot more useful than being able to bench press a couple cars.

"Anyway, you lose the green Glow, you lose most of that boost. I kept the changes the Glow made even without the power - I was maybe a little stronger and faster than a normal person at the same level of fitness would be, but nowhere near my normal levels.

"Hego was pretty much the same. He was still a muscle-bound oaf even with his powers gone - though he'd probably lose most of his strength after a few months if he didn't work at maintaining it - since the Glow wasn't keeping him that way. Without the Glow, Mego was still purple, and I was still green - and even Hego was still blue without the power - or could be.

She looked momentarily thoughtful. "Guess his color change isn't part of the blue Glow. Must be one of the changes it made to him.

Shaking off the moment of distraction, Shego concluded, "So even if Kimmie could get her hands on Aviarius' research, all she'd find is a way to make you lose the benefits without getting rid of the side effects. Some cure," she snorted.

Ron had to agree, but felt compelled to ask, "'Even if'?"

Shego glanced over her shoulder, and her teeth glinted in the moonlight as her lips creased into an evil smirk. "I know a couple guys who owed me a favor in the Go City prison. I asked them to have a little 'talk' with Aviarius for me."

"Do I even want to know?" Ron asked with a shudder. The move turned into a shiver as he huddled down into his blankets.

"Aviarius is just too stupid for me to get really creative with him." Shego almost pouted at the admission. "After I got rid of every scrap of his research at the Nest, the only place any of it was left was between his ears. I just let him know that if he ever even thought about trying something similar again - or spreading anything he knew around, I'd make sure it wouldn't be _there_, either - nor anything else, for that matter.

"He got the point; he's dumb, but not that dumb. Since it took him close to twelve years to gather the minerals he needed for his first attempt, I didn't think I needed to do anything more permanent to him. Not yet, anyway."

Ron shuddered, huddling into himself against the chill that suddenly overtook him - one having nothing to do with the cold air. Somehow, despite all the times Team Possible had fought Shego without receiving injuries more serious than bruises and scrapes, he didn't doubt she was capable of carrying out the threat.

Shego smirked in satisfaction at Ron's reaction as she turned back to the saucer's controls. "Looks like we're almost there."

Rising to his knees, Ron peered over the side of the saucer. "It's that one," he pointed to a yellow house with a porch light illuminating the blue stairs.

"I can read the numbers," Shego groused, more to herself than to her passenger.

"Um..." Ron began hesitantly.

"What?"

"Not that I'm not grateful, but why are you helping me like this?" Ron asked. "Weren't you... upset?"

Shego's teeth flashed in the moonlight as she grinned like a shark. "Oh, I'm still... 'upset.' Just not so much at _you_. You didn't mean for it to happen, did you?"

Ron hurriedly responded, "No, no... It was a complete surprise."

"Since you and Kimmie sat like bumps on a log for most of the flight, I had some time to think."

"And?" Ron asked curiously.

"You've had some training. It shows, even if you're really good at hiding it. That losing the pants thing? Brilliant. Had me fooled for a long time. I bet Dr. D still hasn't figured it out."

Ron chuckled nervously, scratching the back of his head with one hand. "Yeah... Totally my plan."

"What kind, where, and when you got your training? Don't know. Don't care." Shego shrugged. "The results are what count, and you let Kimmie do everything, so I really couldn't care less about what you know - that's what henchmen are for. But I _am_ a little curious about a few things."

"About?" Ron asked nervously. His promise to Sensei was tickling at the back of his thoughts, making itself known.

"You ever play any of those stacking games?" Shego asked instead. "There's all kinds - with sticks, logs, bits of wood... even playing cards."

"Me and Rufus play Nachovalanche sometimes," Ron answered, even though his brow was furrowed with confusion. "You take four or five grande size cheesy nacho platters - depending on who's working behind the counter - and you stack the tortilla..."

"Yeah, yeah," Shego interrupted. "Not important. You get the idea. Anyway, so when you're playing, did you ever get the urge to find the one key piece to pull away? Never mind how long it took you to stack the stuff up, or that doing it will make you lose the game, or even that you'll have to clean up the mess. You just _really_ want to reach out, pull that piece out, and let it all come crashing down?"

Ron's expression mirrored his confusion. "Well, sure, but it wouldn't be much of a game if I... Wait, you mean you're doing this just to see what happens? See how much of a mess this makes?"

Shego's smile was so completely sincere and genuine that Ron just _knew_ it had to be totally and utterly false. "Of course not. I'm lying to you."

Frowning, Ron watched as Shego's expression actually grew even more open and honest. "Seriously, it was a total lie."

_"But if she's telling the truth, it's a lie - but if she's lying in the first place, it can't be the truth..."_ Ron's brain began to hurt. _"Or does she just want me to **think** she's lying?"_

Shego slowed the flying craft above Ron's driveway, and the look of sincerity vanished from her face as quickly as it had appeared. She landed the saucer in front of the garage door and powered down the engine. "Last stop - everyone out. That means you, Stoppable." She gestured over the side with one thumb for emphasis.

Ron glanced up at the light glowing above his front porch, then looked back towards the villainess. He was still vaguely disturbed by the fact that he couldn't tell if she'd been telling the truth about her motivation, but at the moment, he had more important things to worry about.

"What is it now?" Shego demanded irritably when he kept staring at her without moving.

"Can you come in for a few minutes?" Ron's smile was more than a little sickly - and his expression had nothing at all to do with his illness. "I... need to explain all this to my folks, and it will make a lot more sense if you're there, too." Shego started to scowl, but Ron's hurried, "I can get you some coffee or something..."

Shego looked like she was going to turn him down flat, but a shiver suddenly crawled across Shego's skin. "Coffee _would_ be good," she reluctantly admitted. She ran her hands up and down her forearms briskly, moving her jumpsuit's sleeves back and forth for friction. "It's cold."

Ron clambered carefully out of the saucer. "Thank you, thank you, thank you!"

Shego rolled her eyes before coughing. When she'd recovered from the brief fit, she told him, "You're just lucky it's cold, kid."

As she stood on her seat and prepared to step out of the saucer, Ron reached up to help her down. Shego paused, irritation and annoyance flitting across her face as she stared at his upraised arm.

A slow eternity passed as Shego's hand flexed, causing her claws to glitter in the glow of the Stoppable's porch light. After another long eternity, the tension slowly drained from her hand as she carefully wrapped her fingers securely - and safely - around Ron's wrist. Using his arm for support, she cautiously alighted from the saucer.

Shego had barely regained her footing when Ron's hand suddenly burst into flame. Swallowing an oath, Shego's hand reflexively began to pull back - until she realized it didn't hurt. "Interesting," she noted, her eyes narrowing in concentration.

"I'm sorry," Ron gasped, his eyes widening at the sight of her hand and forearm bathed in the glowing green plasma. "I didn't mean to do it..." he stammered.

Ron tried to pull away, but Shego's hand suddenly tightened, holding him firmly in place. "Don't move," she ordered. "I want to try something." Without warning, her own hand ignited.

At first, Ron flinched away, but he realized nearly as quickly as Shego had that the flames didn't actually hurt. "Whoa..." he breathed, relaxing from the moment of sudden tension.

Flickering tendrils of plasma swirled around their joined hands. Wisps of glowing energy woke to life around each, only to be absorbed into the opposing grip.

"Careful," Shego ordered quietly, her eyes intent on the interplay of their energies. "Don't focus it. Just let it come." She watched the green glow flicker around their joined hands, her eyes narrowing in concentration.

"That feels... nice," Ron whispered, watching the dancing flames surrounding their hands. It didn't hurt, nor, Ron noticed, was the energy discharge damaging their clothes; the plasma actually seemed to dance from skin to skin, bypassing any obstruction to find an uncovered bit of epidermis to enter, moving in wafting leaps.

Shego didn't say another word, and after a few moments, both the outpouring of her plasma and her grip faded. She cautiously drew her hand away from his, then silently tugged the sleeves of her jumpsuit down to cover her forearms more completely as the glow around Ron's hand died away.

"Get inside, Stoppable," Shego ordered, her voice oddly neutral.

xxxXXXxxx

Ron shifted uncomfortably on the couch. Between his mother's steely gaze and his father's confused and curious look, he was more than a little uncertain.

Beside him, Shego sipped her coffee, not bothering to hide her amusement. She luxuriated in both the warmth and steam emanating from the cup she held between her gloved hands, and the heated air pouring out of a vent overhead as she watched Ron squirm, her lips quirked into a half-smile.

"I hope you can understand our confusion, son," Ron's father finally spoke, breaking the moment of silent tension. "We haven't seen you for days thanks to the quarantine at the Possibles', so this is all coming as quite a shock. Could you please run through all of that again?" Ron's father asked. "_Slowly_, this time," he instructed.

Ron chuckled nervously, rubbing the back of his neck with one hand. He glanced over at Shego, who simply smirked, her eyes glinting with barely suppressed mischievous mirth. Realizing she wasn't being nearly as much help as he'd hoped, he took a deep breath, noisily blew his nose, then began again, hoping he'd be able to make it through another retelling before having to clear his sinuses once more.

"Well," he began. "Shego and her employer, Dr. Drakken..."

"That would be one of Kim's foes?" Ron's mother interjected, her gaze frosty as she eyed the woman sitting across from her.

Shego simply lifted her coffee cup in a silent toast. Her grin was vaguely mocking, and Mrs. Stoppable's brow furrowed in clear distaste.

"Um, yes," Ron admitted, shifting uneasily on his cushion. "You see, they'd stolen Ray-X from a research facility, and..."

Somehow, Mrs. Stoppable's gaze managed to chill even more. "Go on," she ordered.

Ron coughed nervously, before the simple throat clearing turned into a more profound hacking wheeze. When he'd recovered, he continued, "Since KP was still too sick to go with me, I snuck into their lair..."

Ron's mother held up one hand to silence him. "I can see where this is going. This... _green_ thing. You caught it from her?"

Glancing over to Shego, Ron nodded.

"Is there a cure?" his mother asked intently.

Thinking about what Shego had said about even Aviarius' "successful" device for removing the Go-Team Glow, he had to concede, "Not... really."

"And what does Kimberly think about this?" Mrs. Stoppable asked, her voice flinty.

"Well, she's upset, obviously," Ron admitted. He interlocked his fingers, and gazed down at his gloved hands, trying to compose his thoughts.

"She'll get used to it," Shego interjected airily, waving one clawed glove in dismissal. "It's not that big of a deal."

Mr. Stoppable sighed. "Well, I can certainly understand. Miss... Shego is it? I'm sure you're a wonderful person, even with the whole... evil mastermind thing..."

"She's more of a sidekick," Ron broke in. "Her boss is the mastermind. Well... Sort of, anyway."

Shego snickered as she raised her cup to her lips and took another cautious sip of the steaming coffee. She didn't bother trying to either defend her boss or refute Ron's hedging of his description of Drakken.

"Well," Mr. Stoppable admitted, "while it's certainly regrettable that you gave in to temptation, even if..."

"Oh, Ronald," Ron's mother wailed as she wrung her hands in her lap. "If you were going to cheat on Kim, why couldn't you at least use protection?"

A muffled choke sent a fine spray of coffee arcing across the room. "What?" Shego screeched.

"It wasn't like that!" Ron insisted. He leaned forward, waving his hands wildly for emphasis. "And we're not even like _that_!"

Shego's hand tightened, crushing her cup into flinders. As her fist closed, it burst into flame, the intense green aura vaporizing both the falling coffee and the fragments of her cup before either could reach her lap.

Before she could do more, Ron leaped to his feet and quickly interposed himself between the enraged villainess and his parents. "It was just a cold!" he shot over his shoulder. "I just caught her cold! It was nothing... It wasn't... Not... not... not like..."

"You're on your own, buffoon," Shego snarled as she flipped backwards over the back of the couch. "I'm out of here." She stomped to the front door, then paused once she had ripped it open. "But you had **better** get this straightened out - or else."

Shego didn't bother to finish the threat, knowing her talk about Aviarius would still be fresh in Ron's mind. The slamming of the door as she stormed out was quickly followed by the pulsing hum as the saucer took off, carrying her into the night.

"She's a lovely girl, if a bit temperamental," Mr. Stoppable casually began. His wife's frozen gaze made him cough uncomfortably, and without missing a beat, he continued in a much darker tone of voice. "But also much too old for you. Yes, much, much too old," he insisted. "And much too high- strung."

"Ronald," his mother began, her eyes and her voice equally icy.

"I didn't sleep with her," Ron snarled, his expression an eerie echo of the one that had so recently appeared on Shego's face. "And I can't cheat on Kim - we're not together. She's too busy crushing on Josh _Monkey_ to notice me," he sneered.

"Ron," his father carefully enunciated, eyeing Ron worriedly as his hands began to glow with green flame.

"I'm going back to Kim's," Ron sighed as both his sudden flash of ire and his flame cooled as quickly as they'd surged. He slouched to the front door, burying his quiescent hands deeply in his pockets.

"Ronald," his mother tentatively began as she rose to her feet.

"I'll see you guys later," Ron mumbled as he pulled the door closed behind him.

His parents shared a look after his departure, but remained mute. When the silence had stretched unbearably, his mother tried to interject a note of normality, "I should get to that stain before it sets. She hurried off to collect the cleaning supplies as her husband simply shook his head in shock.

"I think I need to give Kimberly's father a call in the morning," he noted quietly to himself.

xxxXXXxxx

**Author's Notes:** None... Just please review, and let me know what you think.


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